New member, old question! (Showtime 7W possibly)

[joshlondon]

Hi there,

Long time viewer to the site but only just taken the plunge and joined!

Anyway, on recommendation from this site a few years ago I bought a 1m dish to get the Art Sports collection on Hotbird 13E.

Now, a few years later, I'm trying to get as close to that as possible again! As a Tottenham fan, I'm after a similar set-up to ART which showed a selection of matches (rather than just the top 4) at 3pm. As a result of much reading, the best option seems to be Showtime (please advise if incorrect).

Does anyone have Showtime? How easy will it be to angle the dish to get it and is there anything else I should be considering?

Thanks for reading.

Look forward to hearing your responses,

Josh

 

[Analoguesat]

The first question - do you have room for / do you want a 1.2m diameter dish in the garden?? (That the best part of 4 feet) Thats the minimum you are going to need if you want Showtime in the London area.

 

[joshlondon]

Yep that would be fine. Have a 1m dish already but happy to trade it in for a bigger dish.

Thanks for the reply - its info like that that I need to know!

 

[joshlondon]

Can anyone give any more help please?

 

[Analoguesat]

Dont be so impatient josh - its only 2 hours since your last post. Folk will be along sooner or later to answer your question - you should give it at least a week before reasking a question. Remember not all our members log in every evening.

 

[joshlondon]

Oh sorry - didn't mean to sound impatient. Just been reading around for the past few hours and was eager to see the forum's thoughts!

Apologies again,

Josh

 

[Analoguesat]

No prob mate - its easy to get carried away when you get excited about a project.

I cant help much with the practicalities of 7W reception - Im far enough north that Id need a silly sized dish and anyway I have trees in the way here.

 

[satelliteman]

I would have to agree with A/S, for a reasonable signal a minimum of a 120cm dish would be required in your region for reception of Nilesat Vertical Tp's.
A larger dish needed for horizontal transponders. Some are able to receive with a 110cm depending on area of course.

SM

 

[Robbo]

In Kent, just about 20m east of London, I can get the Nilesat verticals including the Showtime vertical transponders on a 1m Triax. I've also had the Showtime horizontals a few times as well. The footie is on the horizontals however, so a 1m is no good, very close but not enough. I would guess at a decent 1.5m (has over twice the area of a 1m) wouldn't do too badly. You could always try the cheapo 1.8M that maplin do, if you fancy a challenge. Apparently needs careful alignment of the petals, and possibly strengthening a bit as its a bit flimsy for its size.

But once done, you should get quite a good signal on it (as long as it does not rain too much)

7w has one advantage, and that it is quite high in the sky, so line of site obstructions are easier to overcome.

 

[Burnham Beech]

If you want to get a specific team you will need 100% certainty of reception of 7°w horizontal channels at 3pm, and unfortunately the signal from 7°w it at its weakest at 3pm.

In north London I know a 1.2m is not big enough and would guess a 1.5m would be ok in fine weather, but I reckon you would need a good quality 1.8m for guaranteed all weather reception.

Then, how do you think you will unscramble Showtime? Official subscription is very expensive and not officially supported in the UK, WORKING Gamma cards are almost impossible to obtain and you can't rely on the codes to be public very often.